Closets are for Clothes

Last year, the Miami Beach Gay Pride Parade featured Legacy Couples, LGBT lovebirds who have been together for 20-plus years. As the aging couples drove by, emotions were evident on the faces in the crowd  a crowd that is constantly told that only straight people are permitted to enter the sanctity of marriage in this country. Pride parades are days set aside to silence all of those negative voices and listen to our own. The voice that says, I am here. I am queer. Get used to it.
When did pride begin? With the Stonewall Riots, during which New Yorks LGBT community took to the streets in response to NYPDs violent raids on gays and gay establishments. And considering the oppressive and humiliating treatment that LGBT people received back in 1969, its no wonder theres a desire to celebrate progress. Places such as Massachusetts, Connecticut, Iowa, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Washington, D.C., have legalized same-sex marriage, and gays and lesbians can openly serve in our armed forces. So dust off your rainbow visor and rescue that pink-triangle T-shirt from your attic  its time to show the world that closets are for clothes. The free parade begins at noon Saturday and runs from Fifth to 15th Street on Ocean Drive in Miami Beach.
Sat., April 16, noon, 2011